The Acorn Inn

28 Fore Street,
EVERSHOT,
Dorchester,
DT2 0JW

Plumb in the middle of Thomas Hardy's favourite stretch of England, the 16th-century coaching inn makes an appearance in Tess of the d'Urbervilles as the Sow and Acorn. To start, grilled local goats' cheese in orange dressing may be a safer bet than the more ambitious truffled gnocchi, but there's nothing wrong with correctly cooked plaice on the bone with triple-cooked chips and caper butter, and it's worth the wait for a slow roasting of pork belly, served with appled mash in Madeira jus. The chocolate fondant is styled 'melt-in-the-middle' in supermarket fashion, but is a superior sponge with unctuous oozy filling, accompanied by brilliantly intense salted caramel ice cream.